The music biz’s disruption began over a decade ago, but the music market and consumer behavior has yet to settle—even more so in 2013. The business remained in a state of flux as consumers had yet to decide how they will listen to and pay for music and many new music businesses models have yet to be fully realized. And this year, too, as disruptors were disrupted, any sure bets were off.Billboard.biz

SIMONE BOSÉ, PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSAL MUSIC IBERIAN PENINSULA, DIES AT 51

Bosé was a much-liked -- and well respected -- executive in the European recorded music business. When his return to Universal was announced on Oct. 1, his boss Jesús Lopez (chairman and CEO of Universal Music Latin America and Iberian Peninsula) said: “Simone represents the very best in creative leadership and business management."Billboard.biz

U.K. 2013 ALBUMS SALES DROP AS STREAMING, SINGLES SPIKE

Overall singles sales for the year in the U.K. came in at 182.2 million, just shy of a record of 186.6 million set in 2012, according to data from the Official Charts Company and British recorded music trade body BPI. Total trade music revenue in Britain again topped $1.66 billion (£1 billion), they said without providing further details.Billboard.biz

The Warner Music Group has submitted a settlement to the class action lawsuit filed by artists who claimed they were entitled to be paid on a licensing bases instead of a royalty bases for download and mastertones. WMG is offering artist who opt-in to the settlement a pool of $11.5 million, which will include about $3 million in lawyer's fees and expenses, to all U.S. artists who signed a recording contract with one of its labels prior to Jan. 1, 2002.Billboard.biz

BRUNO MARS, RIHANNA TOP LIST OF MOST-PIRATED ARTISTS IN 2013

Bruno Mars edged out Rihanna as the most pirated artist of 2013, according to figures released by data analysis firm Musicmetric. Mars finished the year with nearly 5.8 million downloads to Rihanna's 5.4 million. Daft Punk was a distant third with 4.2 million downloads. Justin Timberlake with 3.9 million downloads and Flo Rida with 3.5 million downloads round out the top five.Billboard.biz

FROM ONE DIRECTION TO KANYE WEST, WHY GRANDIOSE TOURS RULED

A One Direction show reveals far more about the community of people invested in the British boy band and their present cultural impact than one of their albums, because a live performance is entirely contingent on the relationship between the artist and those who adore them.Billboard.biz

PETE TONG, KATHERINE JENKINS NAMED IN NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST

Tong was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire), while Jenkins is given an OBE (Order of the British Empire). Also, composer Sir Pete Maxwell Davies adds to his existing Knighthood and CBE with a Companion Of Honour.Billboard.biz

BEYONCÉ HAS REINVENTED HOW TO RELEASE AN ALBUM. OVER TO YOU, ADELE

Will 2014 see artists of various shapes and sizes chucking albums into the ether and hoping for the best? U2, Adele, Madonna, Rihanna and One Direction are due to release albums in 2014; they and others may try to emulate Beyoncégeddon, but most will fail. Beyoncé's major triumph was not to release an album with no marketing, nor even to tap the "no marketing angle as a marketing angle" angle, but – to employ the favoured imagery of many Beyoncé fans – to snatch the wig of victory from the scalp of defeat.Guardian

CALL FOR MAJOR RECORD LABELS TO CHANGE FOR DIGITAL AGE

Billy Bragg thinks that the reason musicians are not seeing good returns from Spotify and other streaming services is because these labels are signing deals with musicians that are stuck in the past.BBC

MUSIC INDUSTRY WATCHES FOR POTENTIAL 'INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS' EFFECT

A budding folk singer's struggle to connect with fans is at the heart of Joel and Ethan Coen's latest film, "Inside Llewyn Davis," their historically informed story of a musician trying to find his way in the Greenwich Village folk music scene circa 1961. Off the screen, however, Davis has already won some big fans in the music business who are delighted in those rare instances when music and musicians take the center stage on screen.Los Angeles Times

LAS VEGAS SHOW’S SET DESIGNS LEAVE BRITNEY FAR BEHIND

For the past six years, the state of Britney Spears has been summed up best - and most frequently - by the simple phrase she intoned at the top of “Gimme More,” from 2007, that has since become a catchphrase: “It’s Britney, b****.”New York Times